Ancient Samnite settlement in Italy discovered through drone technology

Angela

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http://www.archaeology.org/news/4855-160921-italy-drone-settlement

"LE PIANELLE, ITALY—Live Science reports that airborne drones have been used to discover traces of a possible Samnite community in Italy’s Apennine Mountains, where rugged terrain has prevented scientists from taking conventional aerial photographs. Tesse Stek of Leiden University and his colleagues wanted to look for villages, farms, villas, and cemeteries that may have been connected to two ancient temples uncovered by construction projects in the region. So, they programed aerial drones to take photographs in areas where they had found artifacts on the ground. Strong winds in a narrow valley caused the loss of one drone, but other flights revealed several archaeological complexes surrounding the once-mysterious temples. “We have a very complete overview of the internal organization of the settlement, including its disposition along the road, storage spaces, domestic areas, and so on,” Stek said. The villages were denser and better organized than had been anticipated, he added. For more on the Samnites, go to "Pompeii Before the Romans.""

This is the article to which they link:
http://www.archaeology.org/issues/202-1601/trenches/3944-trenches-pompeii-samnite-burial

The Samnites were Oscan speaking shepherds from the central Appennines who moved south and founded Pompeii.

"
Now archaeologist Laetitia Cavassa from the French National Center for Scientific Research has uncovered an inhumation burial dating to the middle of the fourth century B.C., when Pompeii was still a Samnite stronghold, before it was taken over by the Romans. The tomb, which is believed to be that of a woman between 35 and 40 years old, was filled with high-quality grave goods, including 10 intact vases in a wide variety of shapes and styles. But it is not the artifacts that are the most significant feature of the grave—it’s the date. “It’s an exceptional discovery because it’s the oldest grave ever found in Pompeii,” says Claude Pouzadoux, director of the Jean Bérard Center of Naples, which carried out the excavation along with the Archaeological Superintendency of Pompeii. “We will now be able to understand more concerning the funeral rites of the Samnites, which we still have a great deal to learn about.”"

We'd also know what they were like genetically if they'd only test these remains. :)




 

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